Confused about Volume and size! 87kg 5'7" and keen as mustard for a Dominator!

[lurkerrob]

Hope someone can help me

I am 86-88kg 5'7" and have been suring for a long time. Im intermediate I guess, but living in Dubai now so surf few times a year. I have a 6'4" x 19 1/4" x 2 3/4" Safari Sunny Pro model shortboard.

Recently in Malldives this board was not fast enough, floaty enough or paddle into waves early enough in the 2-3/4 ft range of surf. Above that it was OK. I was experimenting and riding a borrowed 6'2" fish/hybrid with a swallow tail pulled inthat was Ok, but not really high performance enough especially off the top.

So Im looking for something wider, shorter, paddles better, but that still turns off the bottom and top. I was thinking about the 6'2" dominator.

Added to this, I want to kite strapless with it.

Ive read so much about volume, I cant decide which would suit better.

Help.

[prjwebb]

Yeah i think the 6'2" Dominator would be a good fit. Maybe consider the 6'0" if you want to maximise performance, but the 6'2" will give you that added float your're after.
Bare in mind the Dominator is best suited to waves under headhigh, although it will work is waves a little larger.

[Chris]

ohhh good suggestion PRJ!!! I concur

[lurkerrob]

Thanks guys. So is the spitfire so much more performance orientated? Why dominator instead of spitfire?

And now add the activator.......that also looks sweet. How would this compare against the Dom/spit? The swallow tail will give more bite in the bigger stuff right? So it could be used in small to well overhead?

And finally would any of these go ok with a kite? Does the Dom have a lot of bite in the tail or is it skatey?

[Chris]

The spitfire isn'tTHAT much more performance as the boards are nearly identical outside of the tail shape. It does all for a little more bite and because you are getting your rail in the wave a little more, you get a slightly longer more powerful line out of the Spitfire. The dominator, in my opinion, is a little bit more playful and its round tail makes it super smooth and easy to toss around.


Hope this helps further...